Carnaval

Up your culture quota at the Mexican Fine Art Center's Carnaval, where you can sip margaritas, nosh Southern Mexican-inspired grub, and groove to Caribbean and Latin beats. And, oh, yeah, look at some great art. This fest has no ties to New Orleans' Mardi Gras (sorry, no bare breasts or hurricanes). It's a nod to the annual celebration held in Yanga, Veracruz, celebrating Afro-Mexican culture (the Veracruz festival's in August; the museum moved its up to coincide with current exhibition "The African Presence in...

Carnaval 2001 held at Kaleidscope on Saturday by the Junior League of Chicago proved to be a welcome respite from the winter blues for some 500 guests. Peggy Bodine, president of the Junior League, attended the soiree that featured a silent auction. The party went into full swing as guests danced to Latin music provided by The Only Sons and enjoyed the dessert bar. The Junior League, an international institution that came to Chicago in 1912, is an organization of women who...

Now in its 12th season, DanceAfrica Chicago -- a large-scale festival honoring the dance and music traditions of Africa and their influence across the globe -- emphasizes the idea of a continuum. This year's event, which opened Friday at the Auditorium Theatre, was titled "CARNAVAL!" and took a multisensory approach to how the African culture spread to Brazil, Cuba and the Americas. More crisply paced than in previous years, with each group seamlessly connecting...

By Story and photos by Alan Solomon, Tribune staff writer | December 23, 2001

What manner of person flees the winter chill by fleeing to winter chillier? Aside from skiers, who have all that cash invested in equipment and wardrobe, who would do this? We went to Quebec City last winter to find out. Now, according to Quebec City promotional literature, the world's three largest carnivals are in the following cities: Rio De Janeiro, New Orleans--and Quebec City. More than a million people find their way up here every winter for Carnaval. I have no idea how many do Rio and New...

Ever since Avi Sharma took a Latin dance class last summer, he has wanted to see "real Brazilians" samba dancing, a combination of Riverdance feet shuffling, Caribbean beats and macarena swivels. "If I can figure out what real Brazilians do, then I'll do it," said the 25-year-old research analyst. On a recent Saturday, he finally got his chance. Sharma joined about 200 hip-swinging, foot-stomping guests dancing to the rhythms of the Chicago Samba band at the University of Chicago's...

Robert Schumann: Carnaval (Andrei Gavrilov, piano; EMI). As might be expected, the brilliant young pianist devours "Carnaval" whole, bringing a grandeur and epic sweep to this suite that most pianists reserve for Liszt and the later romantics. That alone makes Gavrilov's recording stand out from the pack. The recording is fleshed out by similarly dynamic recordings of Schumann's "Papillons" and "Faschingsschwank aus Wien." (Reviewed on CD.)

Schumann: Carnaval; Kreisleriana Mitsuko Uchida, piano (Philips). Mitsuko Uchida proves just as adept and idiomatic an interpreter in these two piano works of Robert Schumann as in her elegant recordings of Mozart's piano sonatas. In the German composer's kaleidoscopic "Carnaval"--played at faster tempos than is usual--Uchida's tempered romanticism still allows enough space for Schumann's miniature musical portraits to resonate, with a wistful and dreamy Eusebius especially notable.

Leave it to Collaboraction--the offbeat interactive theatrical group--to outdo itself for its 5th annual "Carnaval" affair by throwing it in a church. They tricked out the massive space in Epiphany Episcopal Church on the West Side with a light show, sound and special effects for a carnival-meets-Goth theme. This party had the makings of a mass they'll never forget: tight-bodied models prancing around in gothic body paint; deejay LA Jesus cranking out hard-hitting dance music from the pulpit; and a punk-couture fashion...

Schumann: Carnaval, Sonata No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor Evgeny Kissin, piano (RCA Victor) On a new recital album, Evgeny Kissin brings to the fore many of the virtuoso qualities that have made him a star attraction among pianists of his generation: pianistic command, demonic energy, penetrating insight. The 21-year-old Russian also tends to bear down rather aggressively on certain sections (the stormy opening of the Sonata No. 1, for example) that tends to shortchange...

The scene: We can't think of too many places that feel farther away from the streets of Rio de Janeiro than a Streeterville hotel. But that hasn't stopped C-House, the seafood-focused spot backed by celeb chef Marcus Samuelsson in the Affinia Chicago hotel, from serving a bossa nova-themed brunch every weekend since early November. This weekend, they're even upping the effort for Carnaval. Still, don't show up expecting a bunch of hip-swiveling, tassel-shaking samba dancers. The earth-toned dining room...